Heisler: Will we ever see the real Team LeBron vs. real Team Steph again?

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LeBron James, left, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have met Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors for three consecutive seasons, but a fourth meeting feels less certain this time around. (Getty Images)

Now to see if there’s one installment left in that Warriors-Cavaliers act you’ve known for all these years.

The NBA’s roll continued with a competitive All-Star Game – or at least one with some defense, if that can be said of Team LeBron’s 148-145 victory over Team Stephen – with TV ratings that didn’t drop too much.

Given the fact that all-star games compete in an increasingly bored climate, sending this event to cable, it qualified as a triumph, winning the night for TNT with a 2.8 rating. No. 2 was the tip-off lead-in show at 1.4. Of course, the main competition was only Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” which was No. 3 at 0.9.

Fittingly – and hardly coincidentally – the captains were LeBron James and Steph Curry, the faces of the marquee rivalry that has taken the NBA Finals to its three best TV ratings since 2004.

It’s hardly a given they’ll be back, with the Warriors trailing the Rockets, who own the 2-1 season series tie-breaker and Cleveland six games out of the top seed in the Eastern Conference, scary even for the notoriously late-arriving Cavs.

Not that it would be a surprise to see the Warriors pull away and the Cavaliers come out of the East – as the Cavs did last spring after tying for No. 2, sweeping the Raptors, 4-0, and running over the Celtics, 4-1.

The races are such an afterthought, Nate Silver’s Fivethirtyeight.com took a look at the contenders – except the Cavaliers and Warriors.

The Cavs, it said, had made too many changes to assess.

The Warriors rated six words: “Out to lunch. Come back in June.”

If narratives drive ratings, like baseball’s invaluable “curses,” the NBA’s new age rivalry has been a gift, matching the wildly popular Steph and his free-wheeling Warriors against LeBron, the league’s grand old man and leading spokesman at 33 in his 15th season.

Once rivalries needed glamour markets like the Lakers-Celtics, the granddaddy of them all. In the internet era, with personality transcending locale, this matches ugly duckling markets now known affectionately as “The Land” – Cleveland, once known for its flaming Cuyahoga River – and “The Town” – Oakland, of which novelist Gertrude Stein noted, “There is no there there.”

It’s plain which team has been best: Playing in the deeper conference, the Warriors won 67, 73 and 67 regular-season games to the Cavaliers’ 53, 57 and 51, a 46-game gap in the aggregate standings.

The Cavs won the East only once in the past three seasons, but, happily for the NBA, more than held up their end at the end.

In the 2015 Finals, the Cavs took a 2-1 lead before the Warriors won the last three to close them out.

In 2016, the Cavs lost Games 1 and 2 by 38 points combined but ultimately became the first team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA Finals.

Unfortunately for the Cavs, the Warriors then reloaded last season, signing Kevin Durant and running them over, 4-1.

Little good has happened for the Cavaliers since. Kyrie Irving demanded the trade that sent him to Boston for Isaiah Thomas, who was then dealt to the Lakers. The Cavs also got the Nets’ No. 1 pick to help rebuild when their halcyon LeBron Era ends, which looks like it’ll be soon.

Not that anyone can be sure what LeBron will do. He has always waited until the end to assess his options – then shocked everyone, leaving Cleveland for Miami in 2010 and Miami for Cleveland in 2014.

On the other hand, James and his Cleveland-based people look like they’re up to something … or have millions to throw around on real estate whims, or both.

LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, just bought a $3 million home in Beverly Hills. Marketing point man Maverick Carter bought one in the Hollywood Hills for $3.5 million. Befitting his status as “The King,” LeBron bought one in Brentwood in December for $23 million.

Once LeBron acted and the world reacted. This time the world is making its own plans ahead of time.

It seemed puzzling that Irving, who hit the title winning-shot in Game 7 in 2016, would want to leave … unless you factor in the likelihood of LeBron leaving this summer, abandoning Kyrie to rebuild if he had stayed.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert no longer panders to LeBron, looking similarly intent on not being left high and dry when/if LeBron leaves. Despite their supposedly go-for-it moves at the trade deadline, they turned down all offers for that Nets’ No. 1 pick, holding back an invaluable piece for the future.

Golden State has no problems but is feeling the toll of going all-out while the Cavs coasted, highlighted by its 2016 stretch run to finish 73-9 with Curry missing three games all season, Klay Thompson two and Draymond Green one.

This season, Curry has already missed 14, KD eight. Even the gung-ho Draymond has missed eight.

So what if they don’t get home-court advantage? Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, mentors to Coach Steve Kerr, led the who-cares movement, opting to bring rested teams into the playoffs and take their chances on winning a road game.

Kerr, the former Chicago Bull, compares this to the 1997-98 season when they won their sixth title in eight seasons, looking not only worn down but disinterested.

Scottie Pippen delayed off-season surgery until August, saying he didn’t want to ruin his vacation, and he wasn’t back until January. Dennis Rodman left the bench in a playoff game after Jackson took him out of the starting lineup, obliging Phil to send someone to find him.

“(This All-Star Weekend was) by far the most-needed break for any team I’ve ever been a part of – GM, coach, player. … I’ve never felt a situation like this where it felt so necessary to get away for a little bit.”

Now to see if recent NBA history repeats itself one last time. If not, it was fun while it lasted.